ISSN 1392 - 0758 SOCIALINIAI MOKSLAI. 2002. Nr. 3 (35)

Drug Addiction as a Social Phenomenon and Students' Response Viktorija Baršauskienė, Jūratė Guščinskienė, Vytautas Skvernys Kaunas University of Technology K. Donelaičio str. 73, LT- 3006 Kaunas,

Lithuania

Birutė Trapikienė Kaunas General Police Commissariat Department of Prevention of Public Police Chemijos Av. 4b, Kaunas, LT-3031, Lithuania detailed through the following research questions: What is students' attitude concerning the use of drugs and what narcotic substances are most commonly taken? What are the sources of information about the use of drugs that students get? What sources of information are the most effective? What are the ways of solving the drug problem among students? The aim of the article is to analyse drug addiction as a social phenomenon in a country of transformation and students' response. The object of research is drug addiction as a social phenomenon. The methods of scientific literature and document analysis as well as questionnaire were used in this article.

Abstract The article deals with the problem of drug addiction as a social phenomenon in a country of transformation (Lithuania), emphasizes the peculiarities of this problem, discusses the use of illegal drugs as a social phenomenon; it touches upon illegal circulation and drug taking as well as distribution; it surveys current Lithuanian legal acts on drug control and their execution; it introduces a strategy of international cooperation and drug prevention. In order to disclose students' attitude towards the problem of drug addiction, the article presents sociological research of higher school students' opinion concerning drugs. Its results showed that only an insignificant p a r t of the total n u m b e r of students takes drugs; the opinion about drugs depends on the sex of the respondents.

1. Drug addiction as a social phenomenon and its peculiarities in a country of transition Taking illegal drugs as a social phenomenon. During the period of socialism narcologists saw only one problem - alcohol addiction, though drug problems also existed together with all other maladies. All drug addicts used to be taken to psychiatry hospitals or jails by militia or secret service. The number of drug addicts was hidden even from medical people. That is why an opinion existed that dissemination of drugs was characteristic of the people who had been taken to jails (Lithuanian AIDS Centre Bulletin, 1997, No. 3, p. 96; Subata, 1999). In Lithuania it is possible to point out a few leaps of increasing demand of illegal drugs in the 20th century:

Introduction A great number of various specialists in different countries of the world are interested in the problem of drug addiction. Sociologists analyse drug addiction as deviational behaviour of individuals (Smelser, 1994; Ritzer, 1987; Van der Zanden, 1990; Doob, 1985; Charon, 1990; and others), medical people study it from the point of view of psychiatry (Kaplan, 1998), youth education specialists look at the problem through the prism of socialization (Chudikova, 1992), etc. Scientists also make empiric research (Davidavičienė, 1996; Gudaitienė, 1998; Lopaitis, 1997; Meištienė, 1998; Smithen, 1995; Subata, 1999; and others). Nowadays the problem of drug addiction influences a significant part of young people, students of higher schools among them. A much bigger part of youth start trying illegal drugs in comparison with a relatively small group of real addicts. The use of hemps, "Ecstasy", LSD, amphetamine is sometimes understood as a constituent part of the alternative youth subculture, which covers the life style, music, fashions, leisure. Thus a research of students' response to the problem of drug addiction as a social phenomenon is of great importance. It allows identification of problems and planning the ways of solving them. The research problem of this article can be

•

Middle sixties - echo of the world manifestations, hippies movement;

youth

•

Middle seventies - a rapidly increased production of home-made heroin, the so called "compote";

•

The beginning of the 10th decade - restoration of the Lithuanian independence and opening the country borders.

Nowadays drug addiction in Lithuania is a disease of young people. Only 26,1 % of the drug addicts registrated in health care institutions are older than 35. Moreover, the age of drug takers is becoming younger. In 1995 there were only 3,2 % 15-16 year old pupils who had tried drugs. After four years the number increased up to 15,5 %

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(among them in Vilnius - 22,7 % ) . It has been established that during the last four years taking illegal drugs increased four times. Though, in comparison with the situation in Latvia, Estonia and EU countries, the number of people who have got sick with drug addiction and toxic mania for the first time is the lowest in Lithuania (Drug addiction and AIDS: shall we succeed in uniting our response?). Illegal circulation of drugs, their dissemination and taking. Specialists of the Lithuanian Public Police Office point out several basic tendencies that describe the drug situation in this country. (Review of Crimes Related to Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances, 2001): 1. The number of crimes related to illegal circulation of drugs is increasing. 2. The number of people (especially children and youth) taking drugs is increasing.

V. Skvernys, B. Trapikienė. and Students' Response

Drug

(or any other single dose of illegal drugs) is 30-60 litas, and this price is reasonable for young people from families with average income (Subata, 1999). Laws on Drug Control and their Execution. According to the governmental decision of 28 02 1995, the Drug Control Commission was established. It consists of representatives of 11 ministries and departments. The Minister of Health Care is the head of this commission. The Drug Commission for legal drug circulation control is established at the Governmental Medication Control Service (Lithuanian AIDS Center Bulletin, 1996, No. 10, p. 44). Lithuania has joined three drug control conventions of the Organization of the United Nations. They regulate the control of drug and psycho tropical substance circulation (Subata, 1999): 1. 1961. The joint conventions on the UN narcotic substance control.

3. Groups of organized criminals are involved in illegal dissemination of drugs. 4. New narcotic substances, not known earlier in illegal circulation, get more popular.

2. 1971. UN convention on the control of psycho tropical substances. 3. 1988. Convention on struggle against illegal circulation of narcotic and psycho tropical materials.

Production of illegal drugs, their setting and use is a global phenomenon which is strongly influenced by market laws. After 1990 Lithuania together with the other countries of the Central and Eastern Europe opened their borders to the European and World markets, as well as to the illegal market of narcotic substances (Subata, 1999). Lithuanian citizens more and more often get involved in the internationally organized drug business. In 1999 23 Lithuanian citizens were arrested abroad for illegal circulation of drugs. In 2001 this number increased up to 68. Lithuanian citizens have been arrested for drug smuggling in Germany, Sweden, Norway, England, Belarus, Latvia, Venezuela, Jamaica, Portugal, etc. The most common means of drug transportation are cars, planes and ferries. In 2001 Lithuanian citizens abroad were most often arrested for illegal dissemination of heroin, amphetamine and cocaine. Residents of Klaipėda, Kaunas and Vilnius were the most common smugglers (Review of Crimes Related to Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances, 2001). The number of crimes related to illegal drug circulation is increasing. In 1039 criminal cases for illegal drug circulation were raised. That is 113 cases more (or 12,2%) than in 2001.This number covers 1,3% of all crimes registered in Lithuania. These figures show that the drug problem is getting more and more serious. During the last 10 years the number of crimes related to illegal drug circulation increased 4 times (Review of Crimes Related to Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances, 2001). Until 1996-1997 the most popular narcotic substances were the cheap local traditional drugs, because of poor purchasing power in Lithuania at that time. As the living standard in Lithuania as well as in other Baltic countries is increasing, our country is becoming a new market of illegal narcotic substances. There are more young people trying to take drugs in comparison with the relatively small number of real addicts. The use of hemps, "Ecstasy", LSD, amphetamine is sometimes understood as a constituent part of the alternative youth subculture, which covers the life style, music, fashions, leisure. The price of synthetic pills

In 1997 the Law of Narcological Care was passed in Lithuania. It says that health care of narcological patients is supported by the state (is free of charge). The law provides the patients with the right to health care and social help services as well as confidentiality. In 1998 the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania passed a Law of Control of Narcotic and Psycho tropical Substances and a Law of Precursor Control that granted the juridical basis for control of the materials used in producing illegal drugs - precursors. The law was passed in accordance with recommendations of the European PHARE program (Subata, 1999). The Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania consists of 10 articles, whereas the Administrational Code comprises 3 articles on drugs. The laws of the Republic of Lithuania regulating drug control conforms with the European Union context. But the dominating tendencies are different. There is a tendency in the European Union countries to replace imprisonment or fine with medical treatment delaying the execution of the decision. In Lithuania only the first steps towards this direction have been made, because of too weak cooperation between law and health care institutions in sending people for medical treatment and creating conditions for their rehabilitation. International cooperation. Organization of the United Nations helps the Baltic countries through different programs. The Embassy of the United Nations for the Baltic countries is established in Riga. At present border police, customs and criminal police are the services the work of which is being strengthened, training is organized, these institutions are provided with technical aids. Governmental institution employees are given consultations on the development of national drug prevention program, preparation of legislation (Lithuanian AIDS Center Bulletin, 1996, No. 2, p. 22).

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Since 1993 the following European Commission projects according to the PHARE program have been executed: • "Solving Drug Problems in the Eastern and Central European Countries"; •

"Drug Informational System";

•

"Reducing the demand for Drugs";

•

"Precursor Control";

• "Money Laundering", etc. The European group Pompidu also Lithuania with the help in various spheres: •

Specialist training;

•

Setting the drug control policy;

•

Drug prevention;

•

Addict treatment;

•

Solving the problem of epidemiology.

Young people. Many countries have had effective educational programs, realized by volunteers, specially trained people (members of youth organizations, medical students, etc.) (Lithuanian AIDS Center Bulletin, 1998, No. 4, p. 102).

•

Various specialists: teachers, psychologists, medical specialists, social workers. The aim of these specialists would be to create and implement educational programs at school. Experience of many countries has proved the effectiveness of such programs.

•

Telephone help service. It could help in cases of depression, encourage going to the doctor's. It would provide people with advice and information about detoxication and the nearest rehabilitation centers.

•

Youth event organizers and jurisdiction specialists. As drugs are often obtained during various youth events, responsibility of organizers and jurisdiction for the use of drugs should be strengthened.

Secondary prevention. That is implementation of the program of reducing the harm of drugs. That is also retardation of taking narcotic substances and related diseases, promotion of safe taking of drugs. This drug prevention strategy is based on the policy of reducing the harm of drugs. This policy plans how to help addicts who are still taking and no longer taking drugs. The policy of reducing the harm of illegal drugs depends very much on the conditions created by the government for harmonious and productive development of every individual, guarantees of personal social security and integration, successful struggle with smuggling of illegal narcotic substances. Concrete preventions of drug use are also very important (e.g. at school) as well as treatment - social rehabilitation programs (treatment with methadone, change of used squirts, development of rehabilitation center net). At present "The National Drug Control and Drug Addiction Prevention Program 1999-2003" is being implemented. This program covers the primary and secondary prevention. Various needs of drug control and prevention are planned, such as promotion of organizations that have prepared drug addiction prevention and drug rehabilitation projects; organization of drug prevention events for children and youth; preparation and publishing of literature and visual aids about drug prevention for children and youth of various ages; implementation of drug addiction prevention through mass media; analysis of drug control and prevention sources; establishment of new centers of addiction related diseases and development of the activity of the existing ones; joining the EU drug addiction prevention program; preparation and publishing of informational editions about drug prevention in Lithuania and the world, etc. It is planned that these means should be implemented by medical specialists, social workers, representatives of nongovernmental organizations, etc. But any prevention program will be ineffective if the amount peculiarities and reasons of this phenomenon are not highlighted.

2. To work with young people. In solving this task, attention should be paid to emotional and social needs of young people. Some young people try drugs because of curiosity, others choose them as a means of relaxation or protest. This work should be done together with: •

Drug

•

provides

Lithuania is in cooperation with Scandinavian countries, Estonia, Latvia and other countries in the field of drug addiction. This cooperation helps to highlight the drug situation in Lithuania, gives an opportunity for discussions with specialists from other countries, who are usually more experienced in solving the problem of drugs as a social phenomenon. For example, in 2001 a conference "Drug Addiction and AIDS: Let's Unite the Response" was organized where Lithuanian teachers, law and medical specialists, priests of different confessions, representatives of international organizations participated (Drug Addiction and AIDS: Shall We Succeed in Uniting Our Response?", 2001). Drug addiction prevention strategy. It would be complicated to solve the problem of drug addiction without a well prepared strategy. The Lithuanian drug addiction prevention strategy is planned in two main directions: primary and secondary. Primary prevention can be relatively called "Lithuania, a Country Free of Drugs". This kind of prevention comprises various laws related to the problem of drug addiction, reforms and their amendment. Primary prevention has two tasks: 1. To control drug importation to Lithuania, their transit and production, as well as selling and obtaining psycho tropical and other substances used by drug addicts. The main aim is to reduce the demand for drugs. The most effective way is convincing young people of not trying narcotic substances, because they will not only become dependent, but will increase a possibility of catching AIDS and other diseases.

V. Skvernys, B. Trapikienė. and Students' Response

Parents. It's necessary to train parents to recognize a drug taking child. In the largest towns and regional centers parents training centers and bureaus should be established.

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Addiction

Further on the article deals with the results of the research, aiming to analyse the peculiarities of drug addiction as a social phenomenon among students.

2. Research on higher opinion about drug addiction

school

J. Guščinskienė,

as a Social

Phenomenon

V. Skvernys,

B. Trapikienė.

and Students'

Drug

Response

different activity was noticed. The reason was probably the time of the lecture (e.g. the respondents were better concentrated in the beginning of the lecture). On the contrary - some students left the auditorium when the questionnaire was given to them in the end of the lecture. This negative attitude of some students might have been stimulated by inconvenient time for questioning, but the name of the Police Commissariat, mentioned in the questionnaire, might be another reason. The collected data was processed by the statistical program package "Epi Info 6". The results of the research. First of all the respondents had to answer the question "What's your attitude towards trying drugs?" they were suggested six answer variants. If neither of them suited, they could express their opinion. The distribution of respondents' opinions is described in Table 1. Respondents' most frequent answers were:

students'

Research. Sample and organization. The sociological research was initiated by the Prevention Department of Kaunas Public Police Commissariat. The research was carried out in cooperation with the scientists of the Faculty of Social Sciences (Kaunas University of Technology) Viktorija Baršauskienė, Jūratė Guščinskienė and Vytautas Skvernys. The questioning of the respondents took place in February - April 2002. On the basis of this research the Police Commissariat is planning to prepare the program of drug addiction prevention for Kaunas. It is not the first research of such kind, initiated by the Commissariat in cooperation with the above mentioned scientists. Two years ago a research was made on Kaunas pupils' point of view concerning drugs and their use. The aim of the research: to analyse Kaunas higher schools students' attitude towards the use of drugs. The object of the research: students of Kaunas higher schools. The subject of the research: Kaunas higher school students' attitude towards taking drugs. Respondents: 11256 respondents from 5 higher schools tool part in answering the questionnaire. The age of the respondents was 18-30 years. The largest majority of the respondents were 19-21 years old (see Figure 1). Most participants (91,6%) were Bachelor students, 5 , 7 % Master students. 2,7 % did not indicate their study program. Distribution of the respondents according to their sex: male - 33,0 %, female - 66,7 % (0,3 % did not indicate their sex). Instrument of the information collection questionnaire. It consisted of 17 questions and was distributed among students in auditoriums. Questioning. The respondents were questioned during their lectures after having decided particular time (in the beginning or in the end of the lecture) with the lecturers and leaders of the faculty and university. Students'

•

"by trying drugs one can become addicted" 29,2 %;

•

"most people who try drugs, become addicts" 24,7 %;

•

"even the first dose can be deadly" - 21,2 %.

The largest majority of respondents (75,1 %) belongs to the official opinion about trying drugs and are related to their negative effect on personality. This is the opinion of the first block of respondents. The second block consists of the respondents who approve trying drags. Their opinions are not very categorical, they do not define drug addiction and do not emphasize their influence on the health of an individual. 12,4 % of respondents belong to this block. The rest of the respondents - 0,9 % - belong to the third block. The variant "other" was chosen by 11,6 % respondents. The analysis shows that there is a difference between male and female respondents' attitude towards trying drugs (see Table 1). The tendency was noticed that male respondents more often choose the answer variants emphasizing positive attitude towards trying drugs. Thus the results of the research show that trying narcotic substances depends on the sex of the respondents. The respondents were also asked to express their opinion about using drugs. The distribution of answers is seen in Table 2. Table 1

Students' attitude towards trying drugs What is your attitude towards trying drugs? By trying drugs one can become addicted Most of the people who try drugs become addicts Even the first dose can be deadly Other (Л с It would be interesting to try drugs once я It's necessary to try drugs because of general understanding about their effect о Little doses are not harmful One must try drugs to be modem One must try drugs in order to join other people

ssible

1M

Respondents

(%)

Distribution of opinions Male Number (%) 25,3 164 22,4 145 19,1 124 14,8 96 8,5 55 v

Female Number (%) 461 31,0 383 25,7 330 22,2 151 10,1 107 7,2

626 529 454 248 163

29,2 24,7 21,2 11,6 7,6

66

3,1

34

5,2

32

2,1

36 11 8

1,7 0,5 0,4

21 5 4

3,2 0,8 0,6

15 6 4

1,0 0,4 0,3

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J. Guščinskienė,

V. Skvernys,

as a Social Phenomenon

B. Trapikienė.

and Students'

Drug

Response

Table 2

Attitude towards taking drugs What is your attitude towards using drugs?

Distribution of opinions Male Number (%)

Female Number (%)

Respondents

(%)

879

31,9

249

29,0

628

33,1

706

25,6

190

22,1

515

27,2

558 208 104 98

20,2 7,5 3,8 3,6

158 76 60 46

18,4 8,9 7,0 5,4

399 132 43 52

21,1 7,0 2,3 2,7

94

3,4

38

4,4

56

3,0

86

3,1

34

4,0

52

2,7

25

0,9

7

0,8

18

0,9

Drugs lead to degradation of personality and physical self-destruction People taking drugs do harm not only for themselves, but also to their families, friends, society u Taking drugs is a very risky habit i сл Other яe There are light harmless drugs jaа Drugs satisfy the needs of new feelings to О Drugs help to have a good time in discotheques and С among friends Narcotic substances stimulate and help to get rid of tension Taking drugs is a ways ofliving

taking drugs than females. Thus we can draw a conclusion that the attitude towards taking drugs depends on sex. It was determined that 26,7 % of respondents had tried narcotic substances, 33,3 % stated that they hadn't used drugs before. 40,0 % of respondents did not dare to answer this question. It was also analysed what narcotic substances are the most popular among users (see Table 3). The most popular are marihuana (grass) - 6 8 , 7 % , tranquillisers and soporifics - 30,7%, amphetamines - 16,7%, ecstasy 11,3%. According to the sex of drug takers, distinct differences were noticed. The most popular types of drugs are equally taken by male and female respondents, whereas tranquillisers and soporifics are more popular among females.

From 8 possible answers most respondents chose the following variants: •

"taking drugs leads to degradation of personality and physical self-destruction" - 31,9 %;

•

"people taking drugs do harm not only for themselves, but for their families, friends, society; -25,6%;

•

"taking drugs is a very risky habit" - 20,2 %.

All the possible answers about the attitudes towards taking use of drugs can be grouped in two blocks. In most cases respondents choose the answers that express their negative attitude towards taking drugs (77,7 % ) . From the point of view of respondents' sex, it was noticed that male respondents relatively more approve

Table 3

Narcotic substances most frequently taken by respondents Narcotic Substances Marihuana (grass) Tranquillisers and soporifics Amphetamines Ecstasy Cocaine Other Volatile Inhalants (glue, acetone) LSD Poppy-head extract Anabolic steroids Heroin Opium Ephedrine Crack Methadone

Respondents

(%)

230 102 56 38 26 23 21 16

68,7 30,7 16,7 11,3 7,8 6,9 6,3 4,8

11 10 9 7 4 3 2

3,3 3 2,7 2,1 1,2 0,9 0,6

71

Users Male Number 128 18 32 17 11 14 12 12 9 7 6 3 3 1 1

(%)

81,5 12,2 21,7 11,6 7,4 9,6 8,2 8,2 6,2 4,8 3,4 2,0 2,1 0,7 0,7

Female Number 102 84 24 21 15 9 9 4 2 3 3 4 1 2 1

(%)

54,8 45,2 12,8 11,3 8,1 4,8 4,8 2,1 1,0 1,6 1,6 2,0 0,5 1,0 0,5

Socialiniai

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V. Baršauskienė, J. Guščinskienė, Addiction as a Social Phenomenon

2002. Nr. 3 (35)

V. Skvernys, B. Trapikienė. and Students' Response

Drug

Table 4

Sums of money spent on narcotic substances How much money do you spend on narcotic substances monthly?

Number of respondents Men 9 6 6 4 3 2

Total 13 9 8 5 3 2

Up to 10 Lt 60-100 Lt Over 100 Lt 40-60 Lt 11-20 Lt 20-40 Lt

Women 4 3 2 1 0 0 Table 5

Information sources about the effect of narcotic substances What are the sources of information you have got the biggest amount of information about the effect of narcotic substances? Mass media Secondary school Friends and acquaintances Higher school Parents Other Police officials Drug distribution

Options Male

Female

Number

(%)

Number

(%)

Number

(%)

887 478 475 184 105 78 40 38

38,8 20,9 20,8 8,1 4,6 3,4 1,8 1,7

269 129 163 53 42 34 19 18

37,0 17,7 22,4 7,3 5,8 4,7 2,6 2,5

616 348 311 131 63 44 21 20

39,6 22,4 20,0 8,4 4,1 2,8 1,4 1,3

One of the aims of the research was to find out in . what environment students are using drugs. It is difficult to depict the answers statistically, because respondents were not wishing to indicate the places. But the conclusion can be drawn that drug users do not want to indicate the places, because they are afraid to be identified, though in the questionnaire the environment was defined abstractly (e.g. during discotheques, trips, at home, at school, etc.) The research helped to define the sums of money that are spent by respondents on purchasing narcotic substances. The most frequent sums of money were up to 10 Lt and from 60 to 100 Lt (see-Table 4). As it can be seen in Table 4, male respondents spend more money on drugs than females. The main sources of money (70 respondents answered this question) are parents (20 respondents), students' own salaries (16 respondents), students' grant (12 respondents). It should be noted that 12 respondents out of 70 get money in illegal way. The research helped to find out the prevalence of drug addiction as a social phenomenon in respondents' environment. Having analysed the question "Do you know any students who take drugs?", it was determined that 45,4 % of respondents (39,8 % males and 62,2 % females) knew a drug taker. It shows that drug addiction is a common habit and a very serious social phenomenon. In the questionnaire there was a question "Is it possible to obtain narcotic substances at your higher school?" This question was answered only by 90 respondents: 7,2 % positively, 5,4 % negatively and 84,8 % did not know if that was possible. Students were more active answering the question "Do you know the places where you can obtain narcotic substances?" 19,1 % of the respondents know the places. According to the sex, respondents' answers look like this:

53,7 % - male, 46,3 % - female. These figures show that drugs are in most cases distributed outside the territory of the high school, as only 7,2 % (90 respondents) indicated that it was possible to obtain them at the university. It was important to determine the sources the respondents got most information about the effect of narcotic substances (see Table 5). The sources mentioned are an important indicator with the help of which we tried to define where from respondents find out about the effect of drugs. The most popular source was mass media (38,8 % ) . Friends and acquaintances (20,8 %) and secondary school (20,9 %) were also rather significant sources. The answers show that students get much less information about the effect of drugs at higher school. The results prove that students come to higher school as conscious individuals and choose the sources of information themselves. In the opinion of the respondents (577), the most effective ways of disseminating information about the problem of drug addiction are comprehensive material in mass media (47,8 % ) , educational activity at school and after school activity (21,5 % ) , public events, that is direct communication with drug addicts, etc. (see Table 6). Respondents described the ways of informing and means of prevention related to the problem of drug addiction by the same terms, whereas about the ways of solving these social problems their opinions were different (see Table 7). The results of the research show that the respondents are very pessimistic about solving the problem of drug addiction in Kaunas. 22,7 % think that this problem is not possible to solve and they are under the opinion that it should be solved together with jurisdiction and government.

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V. Baršauskienė, J. Guščinskienė, Addiction as a Social Phenomenon

V. Skvernys, B. Trapikienė. and Students' Response

Drug

Table 6

The most effective ways of dissemination of the drug problem Options What are the most effective ways of information dissemination?

Male

Female

(%)

Number

Number

(%)

Number

(%)

Exhaustive material in the mass media

577

47,8

163

50,2

413

46,9

Educational activity at school and after school

259

21,5

58

17,8

201

22,8

Public events

242

20,1

48

14,8

194

22,0

Not solved

51

4,2

33

10,2

18

2,0

Parents, family

44

3,6

13

4,0

31

3,5

Struggle with circulation

14

1,2

4

1,2

10

Activity of the police

13

4

1,2

9

1,1 1,0

Stricter legislation

6

1,1 0,5

2

0,6

4

0,5

Table 7 Ways of solving the problem of drug addiction in Kaunas Ways

Respondents

(%)

208 180 177 111 85 80 40 23 14

22,7 19,6 19,3 12,1 9,3 8,7 4,4 2,5 1,5

Not possible to solve Educational activity at school and after school Public events Struggle with circulation Mass media material Police activity Stricter legislation Parents, family Legalization

Options Male Number 82 62 24 42 19 29 16 3 8

(%) 28,8 21,8 8,4 14,7 6,7 10,2 5,6 1,1 2,8

Female Number (%) 126 19,9 118 18,6 153 24,2 69 10,9 66 10,4 51 8,1 24 3,8 20 3,2 6 0,9

are working together: medical specialists, social workers, teachers, etc.

Conclusions Taking illegal drugs has increased and the age of drug takers is becoming younger. Nowadays it is usually a problem of 18-24 year old people.

Having analysed higher school students' opinion about drug addiction, the following conclusions can be drawn: - 2/3 of the respondents relate trying drugs to their negative influence on personality. It was noticed that men more often choose the answers that express positive attitude towards trying drugs. Thus the attitude towards trying narcotic substances depends on respondents' sex.

Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania, a country of transformation, are getting actively involved into internationally organized narco-business. Every year more and more citizens are identified abroad as drug smugglers. The number of crimes related to illegal circulation of drugs is also increasing. It has increased 4 times during the last decade. Lithuania cares about the legislation that would help to solve the problems of drug addiction. This country has joined three drug control conventions of the Organization of the United Nations, which strictly control the circulation of drugs and psycho tropical substances. There are separate articles in the Criminal and Administrational Code of the Republic of Lithuania. Through close relationship with foreign countries various international projects are carried out. The program of the National Drug Control and Drug Prevention for the period of 1999-2003 carried out. It covers the primary and secondary preventions. In realizing this program, specialists of different fields

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More than 2/3 of respondents have a negative attitude towards taking drugs. This attitude depends on the sex of respondents. Men are more positive towards using drugs than women.

-

Marihuana, tranquillisers, soporifics, amphetamines and ecstasy are the most popular drugs. Their use depends on the respondents' sex.

-

About 1/4 of the respondents have tried narcotic substances. The main financial sources of obtaining drugs are: parents' daily allowances, the money earned by the respondents themselves or student grant. Only a small group of respondents dared to indicate where they take drugs. Almost half of them know drug taking people.

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The most popular informational sources about drug addiction are mass media, friends, acquaintances and school. The most effective ways of information dissemination are mass media information, educational activity at school and public events. Respondents are pessimistic about solving drug addiction problems in their town.

J. Guščinskienė,

as a Social

Phenomenon

V. Skvernys,

B. Trapikienė.

and Students'

Drug

Response

14. Moksleivių sveikatos ir žalingų įpročių tyrimas. (http://www.kaunorsvietimocentras.lt/tyrimas/tyrimas2.htm). 15. Narkomanija ir AIDS: ar pavyks suvienyti atsaką? (2001). Žvilgsniai. „XXI amžiaus" priedas jaunimui, Nr. 12 (25). (http://www.xxiamzius.lt/archyvas/priedai/zvilgsniai/200I_12_25). 16. Nusikalstamumo, susijusio su narkotinėmis ir medžiagomis apžvalga 2001 melais. (http://viesoji.policija.lt/show.php?html=pt_np). 17. Ritzer, G. (1996). Sociological

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Theory. USA

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Narkomanija kaip socialinis reiškinys ir jo atgarsis studentų terpėje Santrauka Straipsnyje analizuojama narkomanijos kaip socialinio reiškinio problematika transformaciją patiriančioje šalyje (straipsnio atveju Lietuvoje): išryškinami šios problemos ypatumai, aptariamas nelegalių narkotikų vartojimas kaip socialinis reiškinys; neteisėta apyvarta bei nelegalių narkotikų platinimas ir vartojimas; veikiantieji narkotikų kontrolės įstatymai bei jų vykdymas; tarptautinis bendradarbiavimas bei narkomanijos prevencijos strategija.

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Siekiant atskleisti studentų požiūrį į narkomanijos problemą, straipsnyje pristatomas sociologinis aukštųjų mokyklų studentų nuomonės apie narkomaniją tyrimas, kurio rezultatai parodė, kad narkotikus vartoja tik nedidelė studentų dalis; nuomone apie narkotikus priklauso nuo respondento lyties.

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[teikta 2002 m. rugsėjo mėn. Parengta spaudai 2002 m. spalio mėn.

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